Almost Lover
by RaveOfHorror
Summary: Oliver and Flint reunite 10 years after their break up and things have changed. A child, Muggles, bestfriends, and interferring family threaten to ruin whatever's left of their feelings. WARNING: EXTREMELY OC


Chapter 1-Flint, Wood, and a Little Girl

**A/N: This is the sequel to Oliver's Lament. Childish Beginnings, the prequel to Oliver's Lament is currently on Hiatus for an undetermined amount of time.**

---Marcus Flint---

He sat in the large kitchen, the one his wife had decorated in bright and sunny colors. Looking down at the cold tea he had been drinking, he sighs. It had been a year now, since he had hung up his Quidditch Robes. A year since that day…His daughter Nikola, was his first priority now. She was now eleven years old and would be starting at Hogwarts in a week. Marcus would be all alone, with only his parents Portraits for company.

"Daddy! What's wrong?" came her small voice. She was surprisingly strong willed, for a child. Smart too, like her mother.

"Nothing Love, do you want some breakfast?" he asked, lifting her up onto his lap. She looked up at him, with doubtful eyes. Nikola had adapted many of his late wife's expressions.

"Yes! Toast and pumpkin jam!!" Nikola replied, smiling. Marcus wrinkled his nose, he thought pumpkin jam was disgusting but his daughter loved it. Another thing she had inherited from Emily. Marcus prepared the small breakfast and sat at the table with her. Her silky black curls bounced as she went to sit at her usual seat.

"So, what do you fancy doing today, Love?" Marcus asked his overly observant daughter.

"The Falcons are going against Puddlemere today Daddy, can we go, please?" Nikola asked, smiling her best 'Emily' smile. He couldn't say no when she did that.

"Oh, alright, I'll see if Montague can get us top seats. It has been ages since I saw the team" Marcus said, nostalgically.

"Yay!! Thank you daddy!!" Nikola squealed, abandoning her toast and running to get her cloak.

When Marcus and Nikola finally made it to the match, it was already extremely crowded. It was the final match of the season and his old team The Falcons were playing _his _team. Puddlemere United. "Daddy, hurry up! Let's get to our seats, the match is about to start!" yelled his tiny daughter, pulling his arm.

Marcus smiled as she led him to their seats, once situated in their front row seats in the top box, Marcus relaxed a little. _He _wouldn't be able to catch his eyes in the stands. How long ago was it, since they well he had broken things off with _him_? About eleven years now, how time flies when you're raising a little girl.

"Look daddy! There's Puddlemere!" Nikola cried out happily.

"From Puddlemere United, Wood! Spinnet! Weasley! Bell! Steele! Wolfe! And Thorne!!" the announcer called. Of course Nikola loved Puddlemere._ He _was her favorite Keeper/Captain.

"From the Falcons, Montague! Amphiptere! Pucey! Calloway! Nott! Nefarious! And Malfoy!" the announcer called, his old teammates and they flew onto the pitch.

Well, Puddlemere won but only by ten points, for all intents and purposes, Marcus tried to feel sorry but didn't. He thought that Oliver had flown magnificently. He hadn't lost his touch at all. "Let's go say hi to your teammates daddy" Nikola said, pulling him towards the Falcons team tent.

"Alright but, just for a minute" Marcus said, smiling to himself, at her excitement.

"Hey look who's here! It's Flint!" Montague called, as his team rounded on him, smiling. Despite their current defeat.

"Hey, guys and ladies. You remember Nikola" Flint said, re-introducing his daughter.

They all greeted her and began talking to Marcus who was so deep in a conversation with Michael Nefarious and Rowan Calloway (Female) that he didn't realize Nikola had ran off to the Puddlemere tent.

As Nikola ran into the tent, she collided into a pair of strong legs and fell to the floor. "Are you alright little girl?" asked a deep Scottish male voice.

"Oh Merlin! You're Oliver Wood!" she cried, happily.

"Yes, I am. And what is your name little girl? Who are your parents?" Oliver asked, helping her up. She was a tiny little girl. Couldn't be more than seven or eight years old.

"My name is Nikola and-"

"Nikola Emilia Flint! What have-Wood. Hello, um I was looking for my Nikola" Marcus answers, taking his daughter's small hand in his.

"Oh, this is your daughter, pretty little girl" Oliver says, awkwardly.

"Yes, thank you. Well, come on Nikola get your autograph from Mr. Wood so we can go home" Marcus said, smiling awkwardly.

"Oh sure, what would you like me to sign?" Oliver asks Nikola, bending to her height.

"Here!" Nikola said, excitedly pulling a Puddlemere Uniform from her rucksack.

"Alright, Nikola, from your friend Oliver Wood" he said, as he signed the uniform in permanent ink. She took the cloak and smiled brightly at Oliver. She then frowned slightly at the tense look in both her Father's and Oliver's eyes.

"Thank you Mr. Wood!" Nikola squealed happily.

"No problem, and it's Oliver to you little lady" he says, smiling at her.

"Yes well, we'd best be going eh, Nik? I'm treating you to lunch at your favorite place and then a huge ice-cream cone from Florean Fortescue's. Good seeing you again Wood" Marcus said, as he took his daughter's hand.

"You too Flint" Oliver said, giving him a strained smile.

"Bye Oliver!" Nikola said, happily.

"Bye bye little girl!" he said, waving to her as the man he loved, apparated away.

"Oli we're going out to celebrate! Come on!" Jack Steele called. His long golden tresses looking quite windswept.

"Right, coming!" he said, following his friend and teammate into the locker room. "You did great team, I'm glad we were able to win this match, sadly, Angelina's last match. So, let's go out and have a good time today, it's Angelina's day" Oliver said, patting his longtime friend and Chaser's shoulder.

A half an hour later, Oliver and his teammates were at the Three Broomsticks celebrating Angelina's last day. Her husband George had also joined them; they were going to have their first child. Oliver was having a good time, except..that encounter with Flint kept coming back into his mind. Jack seemed to notice this but didn't say anything. He was too busy eyeing a handsome man at the counter.

Scott and Ivy were both laughing along with the group but kept glancing at eachother, blushing. Alicia was telling Katie about a woman she met at the Leaky Cauldron a few days ago. "Oliver, are you alright mate?" George asked, as Angelina joined in Katie and Alicia's conversation.

"Yeah, I ran into Flint. He's married and has a daughter.." Oliver sighed. George and Jack were the only two who knew of the Flint/Oliver thing back in school. Emily did too but, he hadn't seen her since graduation. Just about eleven years ago.

"Ah..sorry mate. You have to move on though, if he's married, he's definitely not running back into your arms" George said, catching Jack's attention.

"Who's married?" Jack asked, turning away from his prey.

"Didn't you notice? Flint was at the match.." Oliver muttered.

"Oliver tells me that Flint is married and has a daughter" George says, a little distastefully.

"Oh now that is juicy news" Jack said, crossing his legs, femininely.

"Right well, that's that. It's all the closure I needed. He's never coming back to me.." Oliver said, looking very depressed. George patted his back, and Jack frowned slightly.

"Oh sweetie, it's alright. You know love, now you can go and find yourself a gorgeous hunk" Jack said, looking over to where the man was still sitting.

"Jack, I'm not like you. I'm perfectly content with my single life" Oliver said, frustrated.

"When's the last time you had a shag?" Jack asked him, smiling.

"I haven't had a shag since Anthony Bellini dumped me" Oliver admitted shamefully.

"You have got to be fucking joking? You haven't had a shag in three years? Oh Merlin, no wonder you're so uptight" Jack said, looking very shocked. George just snickered at Jack's statement and took a swig of his Fire Whiskey

"I am not uptight" Oliver muttered, turning away from Jack.

"It's alright mate, I'm looking at almost nine months without a shag now that Angie's pregnant" George said, trying to make him feel better. Of course this was a lie, the Family Healer said it was perfectly normal for George and Angelina to continue with their sex life until at least the six or seventh month.

"It's alright, it doesn't matter" Oliver said, waving off all of the pity and sympathy.

After the party, Oliver was back in his flat, making a cup of tea. He just wanted to relax and just enjoy his own company for the moment. The door to his flat opened and standing at the door was Mary Jennings and Helen Goodwyn. They were his muggle neighbors from upstairs and they already knew he was a wizard. Mary's brother Seth and Helen's twin sister Magnolia were muggleborns and in Hufflepuff house. Mary lived with her boyfriend Hugh, who happens to be a wizard. Helen was a single young woman living by herself. Magnolia often stopped in to visit.

Mary and Helen were Oliver's best muggle friends, they also happened to know that he prefers men to women. "Oliver! We brought you a cake!" Mary said, placing a gigantic chocolate cake down on his white marble counter. Her emerald eyes looked up at him in concern.

"What's wrong Oli?" Helen asked, her long cherry red-dyed hair, looking disheveled.

"Nothing Helen, what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, Helen was in my flat keeping me company while Hugh is working at the office" By office, Mary meant the Ministry of Magic where he worked in the Goblin Liaison office. "We heard your loud footsteps and decided to keep you company. We brought a DVD movie to watch" Mary said, smiling up at the burly Scottish man.

"Oh yeah? Which movie did you bring?" Oliver asked, deciding that he would indeed love company at the moment. They would definitely keep his mind off of Flint.

"Sense and Sensibility, an old but a goodie!! Besides it was my turn to pick" Helen said, throwing herself on Oliver's huge and extremely comfy sofa.

"Well, it's been what? A month since we've-well Mary and I have watched it? Pop it in and I'll make the popcorn" Oliver said, walking back into his open kitchen. He smiled as his best muggle girlfriends bustled about in his living room.

"Okay so you'll never guess. The other day, I was downstairs getting my mail when this hunky bloke comes up and asks for directions to management. Says he's moving in this week. Into the two-bedroom under this place. I think he's single" Helen says, excitedly.

"Oh Helen, anyone that good looking and single has to be a poofter. So don't get your hopes up" Mary said, as they sat down with Oliver and a gigantic bowl of popcorn.

"Maybe Oliver will finally get laid. It's been what? About three years since that Italian bloke?" Helen says, nudging Oliver in the ribs.

"Ha ha. Helen, and when was the last time _you_ had a bloke in your bed?" Oliver asked, putting his arm around her. He didn't want to think of Anthony right now either. He was very much in love with the Italian stud. They had also been engaged and, on the day of their binding ceremony, Anthony had told him that he wasn't ready. It turned out that he just wanted to go back to Rome to get back to his ex-boyfriend Roberto.

Oliver was heartbroken and did not leave his bed for the next week. Mary and Helen had to call Jack to get Oliver out of bed and into a Nightclub. He was happier now except that the feelings he'd had for Flint had come back in that chance meeting that afternoon. "Helen! You know better than to bring up that prat!" Mary said, in a very stern tone.

"Well saw-ree!" Helen said, pouting like a two year old. Crossing her arms, Helen sat back and pushed her cherry-red bangs out of her face.

"It's alright girls. I'm totally over Anthony" Oliver said, frowning slightly.

"Alright, now you're just lying Oli" Mary said, as she looked over at him. Mary had a sixth sense for when anyone was lying so, Hugh could never get away with anything in the flat, despite the fact that he was a wizard. He also felt no need to use magic to get his way with her at all. Hugh fell in love with Mary's heart and her smile. He was once a bigoted and snobby Pureblood with the lowest opinion of Muggles and those not Pureblood. But one day, Mary was visiting her sister Magnolia who happened to be friends with his younger brother. He felt intrigued by the no nonsense, kind hearted girl with the purest smile and, the rest was history.

"I will never know how you landed a wizard Mary" Helen said, looking at her bestfriend.

"Me neither but you know, that's a story for another time" Mary said, smiling proudly.

* * *

Later that night, Oliver was lying awake unable to empty his thoughts of Marcus and Anthony. He sighed in the quiet and thought about seeing Flint today and the mention of Anthony, twice. He needed to get those two out of his mind, and fast. Deciding this he nodded to himself and was soon asleep.


End file.
